Part 15

“One of these bureaus was later owned by his granddaughter, Matilda Rathbun, in Mossup Valley, and highly prized. The other came into possession of his grandson, Albert Tyler, near the Centreville, R. I., depot. These two bureaus were altered by Israel Lyon in 1833, while he carried on the carriage business in the basement of the house in Foster, where his brother, Hon. Sheldon P. Lyon, lived and died.

“An old-fashioned silver tankard, holding two quarts, with a cover like a Brittania teapot cover, was sold at the same time, and it was a well-known fact that Major Dorrance, when first born, was very small, and was put into that tankard, and the cover shut down, although he was a man afterwards six feet two inches in height. John Tyler always regretted not buying the tankard.”

The Dorrance mills remained in the Dorrance family down to 1808. During the next few years the mills changed hands several times. In 1813 they were sold to Peleg Place, whose daughters married Dorrances. Mr. Place occupied the mill property until 1824, the balance of the estate, or most of it, still remaining in the Dorrance family.

In 1824 Mr. Place sold the mills to Stephen Potter, who put up another building, introduced “water looms,” and made cotton cloth for several years.

George Dorrance and Phebe (Place) Dorrance left several sons. One of them was named Thomas G., and another Albert L. The latter became an influential farmer on the homestead inherited from his grandfather. He died, leaving a widow and two daughters.

The Dorrance name is still found in Rhode Island, and Dorrance street, a leading thoroughfare in Providence, helps perpetuate it. Bearers of the name, descendants of the immigrants, are likewise found, some of them in Providence. The old dam at Dorrance mills was long since demolished. The original dwellings have long been ruins, the great chimneys being the last to go, but the history and the memories of the Dorrance Purchase still form one of the charms of that section of the state.

AN EARLY IRISHMAN OF WATERBURY, CONN.

BY MARTIN SCULLY,[13] OF WATERBURY.

A good deal of research has been indulged in during the past ten or fifteen years, with a view to ascertaining for a certainty the name of the Irishman who first visited the territorial limits of Waterbury, Conn.

So far the question seems to be an open one, the preference having been ascribed to various persons by different writers. Half a dozen or more of the old Irish settlers of the town who came here over half a century ago and who have resided here continuously since, tell conflicting stories in relation to this subject, and as they were the only source from which much information on this matter could be obtained, the question has never been fully decided, each naming a different person as being the first to lead the way for his countrymen into this section of the state.

I recently conceived the idea of making some investigation on this point from sources other than those which have heretofore been brought into use, with the result that I have succeeded in obtaining information in relation to this issue, which will be of interest to future historians, of the first Irish residents of this town, and cannot but help settle the much disputed question on this point.

As nearly as data can at present be collected, the first known Irishman to see this part of the country was Joseph Rourke, a soldier who served in one of the companies attached to a regiment in command of General Putnam in the Revolutionary War. He was with Putnam through most of his campaigns and took such a liking to that dashing soldier that he refused to serve under the command of any other captain. It was this fascination which led him to follow Putnam to his home in Brooklyn, this state, and he was seriously wounded in the retreat of the Revolutionary troops from Horseneck to Stamford, Conn., in 1779.

During his service in the Revolutionary army Rourke met and formed the acquaintance of a son of Gideon Hotchkiss, the great-great-grandfather of Judge George H. Cowell of this city, and in 1784 he accompanied young Hotchkiss to the family residence, then situated about three miles southeast of Prospect Centre. Remaining here for about twelve or thirteen years, he learned of the intended uprising in his native country, which culminated in the rebellion of 1798, and left on the old stage line for Derby, Conn., thence by way of the Sound for New York, with a view of reaching the scene of the conflict in time to render what service he could to the cause of the Irish patriot party. Whether he reached the scene of operations and met the fate of many of his countrymen who had dared throw down the gauge of battle to the enemies of Ireland will never be known, but sufficient information has been obtained to satisfy me that the story of his visit to these parts is founded on fact.

Judge Cowell can tell many reminiscences of the man’s characteristics which he often heard related by his maternal grandmother. “There is nothing strange about this,” said Judge Cowell, when asked about the matter; “everybody knows that the Irish people had been fleeing to all parts of the world to shun the persecution to which they were subjected at home for centuries prior to that time, and it is the most reasonable thing in the world to believe that some of them should show up in these parts. It is a well-established fact that there were a large number of Irishmen in the Revolutionary War, not only in the rank and file, but as captains and generals. Were not several of the signers of the Declaration of Independence Irishmen?

“Joseph Rourke was not the only one of his race who came along here after the close of the Revolutionary War, but he is the only one I have a good recollection of hearing talked of when I was a boy. What made the old people remember him so well was the fact that in addition to being a brave soldier he was an excellent shoemaker and earned his living during his stay here by going among the farmers, repairing and making new footwear, and the handsomest footwear ever worn in this state by the forefathers of many of the old American families of this section was put up by Joseph Rourke.

“He was in the place,” continued the judge, “for a good many years, and made a practice of leaving every year a couple of months before the winter season, telling his friends that he wanted to reach New York in time to attend divine service on Christmas day. In those days Christmas was not the great religious festival in New England that it is to-day, and the people were practically ignorant of the real meaning of the tenets of the Catholic faith. Rourke never tried to deny his religion, and it was a common thing for the farmers for miles around to gather at the house where he was making a pair of boots and hear him tell of the inhuman cruelties perpetrated on his countrymen on account of their faith, and in my opinion he was the first man that told the old settlers of this town the Catholic meaning of the word ‘Mass.’ After an absence of a few months he was sure to return and remain until the following Christmas, when he was off again. Finally he expressed a determination to revisit the scenes of his early boyhood and use his genius in defence of his native country, and that was the last the townspeople ever heard of him.”

FOUR MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

SOME IRISH SETTLERS IN VIRGINIA.

BY HON. JOSEPH T. LAWLESS,[14] RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

Perhaps the most distinguished man of Irish birth who identified himself completely with Virginia, was Gen. Andrew Lewis, who was born in Ireland about 1720, and came to Virginia with his parents in 1732. John Lewis, the father, was the first white man who fixed his home in the mountains of West Augusta.

Andrew Lewis served as a major in the regiment commanded by Washington in the Ohio campaign of 1754 and 1755. He served with valor in the French and Indian wars, and was highly regarded by Washington, at whose suggestion he was appointed a brigadier-general in the Continental army. Four of his brothers served in the Revolutionary War, one of them, Col. Charles Lewis, being killed at Point Pleasant. No better evidence of the value which Virginia placed on the services of this Irishman could be wished than the fact that she has deemed his effigy worthy to stand for all time beside the immortal group of Henry, Mason, Marshall, Nelson and Jefferson, which surrounds the heroic equestrian statue of Washington in the Capitol Square at Richmond. This celebrated work of Crawford’s is pronounced by the critics to be one of the finest in the world.

Descendants of John Lewis, the father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, are numerous in the state at this day. Some of them have been very distinguished men: John F. Lewis, who died recently, was lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and a senator of the United States. Lunsford L. Lewis, his half-brother, was president of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia for twelve years, retiring from that office a few years ago. Dr. Lewis Wheat is a well-known practising physician of Richmond. Judge John Lewis Cochran, whose mother was a great-granddaughter of John Lewis, father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, and whose great-grandfather, with his wife, _née_ Susanna Donnelly, came to America about 1742, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, and a distinguished lawyer and judge. James C. Cochran, brother to the foregoing, was a colonel of Confederate militia in the late war. Henry King Cochran served as a surgeon in the Confederate service throughout the war. William Lynn Cochran was a major in the Confederate service, and a lawyer by profession. Howard Peyton Cochran was a captain in the same service. It is claimed that there were one hundred and five of the Lewis family in the service of the Confederate states.

Another Irishman who came to Virginia and left his impress was John Daly Burk, of Petersburg, Va. He was born in Ireland, and educated at Trinity college, Dublin. Because of his political opinions and affiliations he was compelled to leave the country (1797) while yet a student at college. He first tried his fortune in Boston, and afterwards in New York. But he received no encouragement. His love for Ireland and his ardent democracy made against his success at the North, and he finally came to Virginia. Here he became the friend of Jefferson and John Randolph, both of whom encouraged the brilliant young refugee.

He was a lawyer, poet, dramatist and historian, and was undoubtedly one of the most accomplished men in the state during his day. His history of Virginia in four volumes was the first comprehensive history of the state written, and is regarded as one of the best ever compiled. He also wrote “A History of the Late War in Ireland,” with an account of the United Irish Association, from the first meeting in Belfast, to the landing of the French at Killala (8 vols., 1779, Philadelphia). Before he completed the fourth volume of the history of Virginia he was killed in a duel with a French gentleman at Campbell’s Bridge, Chesterfield county, Virginia, on the 11th of April, 1808.

The Preston family in Virginia is a distinguished one. Its propositus John Preston was born in Ireland, and came to Virginia in 1735. He married Elizabeth Patton before coming to America. She was a sister of Col. James Patton, also of Irish birth. The latter was killed in Virginia by the Indians in 1753, leaving two daughters, from whom descended John Floyd and John B. Floyd, governors of Virginia; Hon. James D. Breckinridge of Louisville, Ky., and Col. Wm. P. Anderson of the United States army.

John Preston left one son, William, and four daughters, from whom are descended some of the most distinguished men in American history. Dr. R. A. Brock in his “Virginia and Virginians” says, “Scarce another American family has numbered as many prominent and honored representatives as that of the yeoman-founded Preston, with its collateral lines and alliances.” In support of this claim he continues: “It has furnished the National government a vice-president [Hon. John Cabell Breckinridge], has been represented in several of the executive departments and in both branches of congress. It has given Virginia five governors—McDowell, Campbell, Preston and the two Floyds—and to Kentucky, Missouri and California, one each, in Governors Jacobs, B. Gratz Brown and Miller; Thomas Hart Benton, John J. Crittenden, William C. and William Ballard Preston, leading moulders of public sentiment; the Breckinridges, Dr. Robert J. and William L., distinguished theologians of Kentucky; Professors Holmes, Venable and Cabell, of the University of Virginia, besides other distinguished educators.”

Nor is their battle-roll less glorious. It is claimed that more than a thousand of this family and its connections served in the contending armies during the late Civil War. Among the leaders were Generals Wade Hampton, Albert Sydney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, John B. Floyd, John C. Breckinridge and John S. and William Preston. When it is stated that besides the names enumerated, the family is connected with those of Baldwin, Blair, Bowyer, Brown, Buchanan, Bruce, Cabell, Carrington, Christian, Cocke, Flournoy, Gamble, Garland, Gilmer, Gibson, Grattan, Hart, Henry, Hughes, Howard, Lee, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, Mason, Massie, Mayo, Parker, Payne, Peyton, Pleasants, Pope, Radford, Read, Redd, Rives, Seddon, Sheffey, Taylor, Thompson, Trigg, Venable, Watkins, Ward, Watts, Winston, Wickliff, among many others, as well-esteemed, some idea may be formed of its mental characteristics and social influence.

Judge Peter Lyons was born in Ireland, and came to Virginia in his early life. He was made a judge of the general court in 1779, becoming also a judge of the first court of appeals. He served as such until his death, July 30, 1809. As a jurist he ranked high. Among his colleagues on the bench were Chancellor Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, St. George Tucker and Spencer Roane. His descendants for several generations were eminent in the professions, and some of them are still living in Virginia. James Lyons, Jr., who was a colonel on the staff of Governor O’Ferrall, is the oldest male descendant in the direct line. He married a daughter of William Wirt Henry, grandson of Patrick Henry, and by her has several children living.

Another judge of the supreme court of appeals was William C. Burks, of whose ancestors little is known except that they were Irish. He died recently, mourned by the profession which he had so signally adorned by the profundity of his juridical learning and the simplicity and spotlessness of his life. His opinions are as highly regarded as those of any man who sat upon the bench of that court within a half century. He was of weak frame and never enjoyed good health—“a creaking door,” was the expression he commonly used to indicate himself—and never held public office other than that mentioned. Yet his capacity for labor was truly remarkable. He was one of the early presidents of the Virginia Bar Association, which he was largely instrumental in organizing; and until the time of his death was one of the editors of the _Virginia Law Register_, the organ of the profession in this state.

Perhaps the ablest Irish lawyer in the state was Thomas J. Michie, whose reputation extended throughout Virginia as a brilliant wit as well as able jurist. Among the judges of the present supreme court of appeals of Virginia is John W. Riely, who was a major in the Confederate service, and whose ancestors were Irish. The speaker of the House of Delegates, session of 1897–8, was John F. Ryan. A late governor of Virginia was Philip W. McKinney, of Irish descent. His successor was Charles T. O’Ferrall, a man of Irish descent. Among the state officers of Irish descent may be mentioned P. H. O’Bannon, public printer; John Bell Bigger, clerk of the House of Delegates; Major B. W. Lynn, superintendent of the penitentiary, and the writer (Secretary of State Lawless), both of whose parents were born in Galway, and came to America after the “black famine.”

Gen. William Mahone was a descendant of an Irish progenitor who settled in Virginia in colonial days. Judge Anthony Kiely is of Irish lineage, and you know his history. After his appointment as minister to Austria by Mr. Cleveland, and the indication on the part of Francis Joseph that he was at Vienna _persona non grata_, Mr. Kiely was made one of the judges of the international court at Cairo, Egypt, and became its president.

Dr. Hunter McGuire, who was medical director of Stonewall Jackson’s corps and the intimate friend of that great soldier, is of Irish lineage. His great-grandfather, Ed. McGuire, left Ordfest, County Kerry, in 1756, and settled in Winchester, Va.

The Dooleys, Pattersons, Glennans, Kevills, Barrys, O’Connors, Fitzgeralds, Keans, Rheas, Kendricks, Kellys, McChesneys, Goolricks, Wards, Higgins, Doyles, Lawlers, Rafters, Ferriters, McKenneys, McCrackens, Youngs, Coles, Macgills, O’Bannons, Irvings, Irwins, Nolans, O’Sullivans, Sullivans, Walshs, O’Neills, Kanes, Murphys, Ryans and a hundred others, came largely during the present century. Perhaps most of these families left Ireland in the great exodus which followed the famine of 1846–’47. Certainly Virginia received about that time the greatest number of immigrants who, unfortunately for themselves and for their race, have preferred for the most part to lead urban lives. But they and their progeny have not failed to leave the impress of their character upon the people among whom their lot was cast.

And it is not too much to say that in the years to come, when, in the expiring hours of the twentieth century, some chronicler pauses to consider the virtues and deeds of Virginians, he will dwell in loving admiration upon the talents and traits of those of Irish blood, who have already made bricks without straw, and won the confidence and esteem of their neighbors.

They are a people whose genius under the ægis of the Constitution enjoys here that freedom of thought and liberty of action which have been denied their fathers for eight hundred years—who love the Republic and its institutions next only to their God, and who read their own happiness and the fulfilment of all their earthly hopes in the increasing and enduring glory thereof.

Capt. Page McCarty, of Richmond, Va., writes: “I learned something of Irish-Americans from the papers of my father, governor of Florida at one time, and member of congress in 1839. The ‘Scotch-Irish’ appear to have established a theory of pre-emption or monopoly, and of that I learned but little. O’Brien, of General Washington’s staff, was from Alexandria, Va. Colonels McClanahan and Andrew Wagoner and Maj. Richard McCarty, of the Revolution, were descendants of a small group of Irishmen who named the little town of Kinsale on the Potomac about 1662. Daniel McCarty, speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1715, was of this set of people, and grandson of McCarty, of Clenclare, though I see that some of his kin are trying to Scotch-Irish him also. The main immigration of Irish was through Philadelphia and Charleston, S. C., and they penetrated to the mountains with the most adventuresome pioneers and met in the valley that extends from the Peaks of Otter to the headwaters of the Tennessee river.”

FOUR MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

THE WHISTLERS—A FAMILY ILLUSTRIOUS IN WAR AND PEACE.

BY JOSEPH SMITH, LOWELL, MASS.

The following sketch of the Whistler family appeared originally in the _Illustrated American_ of May 25, 1895, and is reproduced with some few slight emendations, because it is germane to the work of the American-Irish Historical Society. It was the intention of the writer to make a brief sketch of the famous artist, whose birthplace was at that time the subject of much amusing discussion, but he found the antecedents of the artist such interesting personalities and their history so romantic, that he amplified his first sketch into a brief story of the family.

Major Whistler’s connection with the beginnings of Lowell, Mass., led the writer further afield and gave him material that may at some future time be added to the literature of the society. It is sufficient to say here that this splendid seat of American industry—Lowell—was conceived, founded, cradled and fostered by the grandson of an Irishman and the husband of that grandson’s sister, Patrick Tracy Jackson and Francis E. Lowell, from the latter of whom it received its name.

* * * * *

The French savant, Guèrinsen, may or may not have been scientifically correct when he wrote, “Genius is a disease of the nerves;” but certainly the eccentricities of genius point too frequently to neurotic degenerations, to aberrations from the normal, and to symptoms that are “conceived in spleen and born in madness.” Modern instances of this truism are on every hand. There is that in James Abbot McNeill Whistler, for instance, which marks him distinctly as standing among the eccentrics of genius; and which, in his splenetic vagaries, shows him to be hovering on the borderland of madness.

While his affectations in art, his “harmonies,” “symphonies” and “arrangements” in blue and gold, and gray and green, and so on _ad nauseam_, might seem to set him down among the Barnums of art, with the poseurs of the æsthetic, Whistler’s work shows him to be a man of undoubted genius, a most uncomfortable and irritating genius perhaps, but still a genius whose brilliancy is flawed by his aggressive ego-mania. When we have discounted all the theatrical “isms” in which he frames his art, we are compelled to recognize the fact that he is an artist whose work will live. No ordinary man, no merely artistic charlatan, could make the impression on the age that Whistler has done. Whistler is a writer of deliciously clever and disagreeable things; he has a literary quality whose acidity has etched his personality on this decade; he is a brilliant talker, overflowing with quirk and bon mot, satire and repartee, alert and resourceful in the battle of wits, and he is easily the central figure at the social functions he honors, outshining all other lights, out-roaring other lions, a meteor among the stars.

While English in his remote racial root, his forbears lived long enough in Ulster to extract from the soil and atmosphere of Ireland that Celtic wit and pugnacity, that brilliance and originality so characteristic of the man. The transplantation of his immediate ancestors to American soil added to the mental celerity and nervous alertness of his fiber, giving to his personality that Gaelic flavor which the English-speaking races acquire under our skies in sloughing off the heavy heritage of insularity of the land of fogs.